Possibility of water poisening frogs

[sheriff_bob]

Hi guys I'm finally coming back to frogs after a 5 year hiatus, and since I'm all grown up now I've been wanting to create a very unique set up. Well i designed cage with a false bottum and a really great looking design. The only problem is that even in using recommended substrates my design has led to a few issues with drainage and water coloring.

I have a water falll / stream that moves diagnoly through the terrarium, at its ending point its spreads over a large rock and then goes down through about 3 inches of soil, pebbles, and charcoal. It then settels down into the resevoir in the bottum. What this has done is created somewhat of a tea bag effect, in which the water instantly turns tea colored as it moves down through the soil.

Now my question is, will this someday become harmful to the frogs and will I have issues with mold and bacteria that could kill the poisen dart frogs. These things are huge investments and I really dont wanna see that die cause of a water fall. I will just design some really catchy water bowl layout if i have to. Thanks for yalls help.

 

[Pyro]

ABG has frog setups something like what you describe. I am not sure what all they do with them or how often they clean them but if you like I can ask next time I am there

 

[sheriff_bob]

that would be great.. I'll try to get some photographs up tonight so that people can see exactly what I'm saying. I'd just love to be able to keep the waterfall, it looks great and sounds great. and i'd be willing to flush that water once a week if i had to. Maybe I should drill a hole through the bottum and filter the water.

How hard is it to drill holes in glass ??

 

[Clint]

you need to have an aquarium store drill a hole. they use a drill bit with diamonds on it. if your glass is tempered, it'll shatter.

you could buy the equipment yourself but imo it's easier to have an aquarium store do it.

 

[Clint]

oh yeah, i paid 75 dollars fot them to drill a 1.5 inch hole and install a bulkhead into my aquarium

 

[Pyro]

Hey Bob,

So I talked to the frog people at ABG this weekend. There setups are significantly bigger than yours but sound pretty similar. Under the main vivariums they have 10 gallon tanks that they use as resevoirs, and they pump the water through. They have never had an issue with toxin build up as all the plants in the vivarium act to buffer the water. They do a full change of the water about every 3 months.

Hope that helps

 

[sheriff_bob]

Thanks for the help.. yeah for this terarrium ive decided to drain the water since it has caused my plants to start dying. I think theres just to much moisture, it's causing rot. But in my next set up I'm going to do the resevoire with the filter system. To clean the water. Thanks for the help guys.